School siting issues
Overview and health risks

Building Schools on Poisoned Land

Would you allow a child of yours to play in a garbage dump or a dumpster? Would you be happy if you found that your kids were poking around a closed-down chemical company’s property, coming into contact with contaminated soil, water and air?

Surely not. Yet, some schools are actually built near, and sometimes directly on, contaminated land.

One of the biggest areas of concern with regard to the environmental health of schools has been the renewal and remediation of older buildings that need to be brought up to date. Clearly, though, that is not the only problem. Because that brand-new school being planned for your children may be getting in the vicinity of property that is still unsafe for use by any human, much less young children.

Children are required by law to go to school, yet there are almost no laws in place, and precious few guidelines either, that compel school districts to locate school buildings on property that protects environmental health and safety of students and staff.

It’s not that school districts are heartless. But they are often pressed for money and are faced with a number of competing interests, many of them well-intentioned. So, they sometimes choose short-term cost over long-term health, often without realizing they are putting children at great risk. Building a school on less expensive land may mean more money for programs, books and technology to help students learn. But many districts do not realize that many such parcels of cheap land come with a high environmental and health cost.

Also, school districts are often enticed by donations of unknowingly contaminated property, or they may end up hiring uncertified or poor-quality contractors to evaluate environmental risks. All of this puts kids at risk.

Use the links at left to learn more about this issue and what you can do to either head off new school construction on contaminated land, or to ensure that schools already on such land are made safer for the students, faculty and staff.